Keeping the postal service up & running, one stamp at a time. Usually silly, sometimes cranky, occasionally a mix of the two.

Tokyo

Happy New Year! To mark the occasion, I send these cool Snoopy postcards to my Snoopy-loving postpals in England, Japan, & the U.S.

Nengajō is a huge deal in Japan–but just try finding New Year’s postcards (or even standard greeting cards) here in the U.S.! In fact, I had to get these through a Japan-based e-tailer. I sure do wish the custom would catch on here.

One of the upsides of being so horribly behind in cataloging my received postcards is that I am at least able to go through the accumulated cards (well, the ones that I can currently find) and do some grouping by theme. This time, it’s some toon-tastic cards, received through all of my current avenues: Postcrossing, Postcrossing Forum, Postcard United, swap-bot, and postcard pals!

First up: B. Kliban! I’m always thrilled to find Kliban Cats in my mail. They surrounded me when I grew up: they were marketed on t-shirts, bed sheets, soap dispensers, calendars, and on & on. The world today could use more Kliban cats. This came to me from a Postcrosser in Cedar Hill, Texas, who saw cards like this one in my favorites.

Every time I look at this image, I notice a new detail.

This Snoopy postcard looks like a piece of original art! The Postcrosser who sent it to me tells me she bought it during a visit to the Snoopy Museum in Tokyo, Japan.

I love, love, love, the style of very-early-era Peanuts art. I was thrilled to get this Lucy (my spirit animal) card from my post pal Cindi in Hawaii. Be sure to scroll down for the stickers, washi tape–and a great Disney Queen of Hearts stamp! And while you’re down there, do be sure to spend time with all of the other stamps, stickers, & washi tape. This is a good post for both sides of the cards I’ve received!

Time to move from Peanuts to Totoro. This wonderful scene came to me from a Postcrosser in Astoria, Oregon, who writes:

I am also a huge fan of Asian cuisine. We lived in Singapore for two years–yum! Ate in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Australia So much good food–love the crosss-cultural stuff. And lucky now to live on the West Coast–foodie heaven. Food carts are boss. Last weekend ate at a place called DJ’s Vinyl Vegan–it was fabulous. It was part of our weekend eat-fest in Astoria. Also had Scandinavian food at the Midsummer Festival. This weekend too hot to go out. Hope you are getting some good eats!

The other Totoro card came to me from Malaysia via Postcard United, from a sender who tells me that ol’ Totes is their favorite cartoon character.

Next up: a pair of Finding Nemo cards. Let me interrupt myself to say that I was at Disney California Adventure last week, and after many visits having ignored the attraction, I finally went to “Turtle Talk with Crush,” and let me tell you–I am never going to skip over it again! Hilarious! Reminded me of a Paula Poundstone performance (and I’ve been to many).

Okay, the cards. The first of them came to me via regular Postcrossing, from Minsk, Belarus, with the following message:

I am a senior student at Linguistic University where I study the English and French languages and American and British Country Studies. I like traveling, reading books, and birds. I have a monk parakeet (Rudy). He can talk.

The other Nemo card came to me from St. Paul, Minnesota, via a swap-bot “Currently Reading” trade. The sender had a few books going at once, and she listed them for me:

Okay, the last 3 are Sanrio: Hello Kitty Country! I sometimes enter Postcrossing Forum tags where every other person is to receive a Hello Kitty card. Since I do not have any to send, I enter on the receiving rounds…and then promptly say that I’d really love to receive Badtz-Maru (or any one of several other ancillary characters). This first card, sent from somewhere in Japan, stars Badtz!

The big Hello Kitty card came from Lausanne, Switzerland, and the smaller one made its way from Nakatsu, Ōita, Japan.

Hey, we made it through! now enjoy the stamps, stickers, washi tape, and a few of the messages. Let me know what you liked! I feel really accomplished right now, to have logged 10 more of my back postcards.

I’ve got cards going out to seven different countries, all but one being signees of the Paris Agreement.

Hey, I got rid of one of my Disappointassortment cards! That heart locket card goes out in a Postcrossing draw to Brasschaat, Flanders, Belgium, to a recipient who said she likes cards with hearts on them.

The mail-a-sea-lion card goes to a sea-lion-loving family member. I love sea lions, too! Scroll down, and you’ll be able to see the other side of this very functional card.

I also visited the PEZ factory in Orange, Connecticut! What a fun experience. I bought a lot of stuff–and I also picked up some free postcards they had, promoting their party room. This one went to North Hollywood, California, for a very specific swap-bot trade: “Free/Ad Card: I picked this up on vacation.” I just knew these would come in handy.

The fox went off toward Tokyo, Japan, for a Postcrossing Forum USA/Asia tag. The recipient said she liked foxes!

There’s a second Disappointment card going away! These ballet folklórico dancers are not the problem; it’s that the card manufacturers failed to give context for the card, and…oh, just refer to the original post. The card went off to Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, in a Postcrossing Forum “China Meets the World” tag. The recipient said he liked cards featuring cultural celebrations for our area, and, well, here in the San Francisco Bay Area, this counts! I grew up enjoying ballet folklórico in schools, museums, and other settings.

Something not so easily found in the Bay Area is great Thai food. Oh, there are Thai restaurants absolutely EVERYWHERE… but just try finding a Southeast Asian person who would want to eat in any of them. I have finally found two restaurants that break that sad mold, and one is San Francisco’s Kin Khao. You, I assume, being someone who is interested in postcards, you may love to walk into this restaurant to find a wall decorated with a huge postcard rack, full of food cards yours for the taking! I’ve mentioned this before; you can see the rack in that post, here. This one goes to Stetten, Germany for another specific swap-bot trade: “Free Postcard–Restaurant/Coffee Shop.”

Next we have a couple of cards I created from boxes of frozen food, for another swap-bot trade of “up-cycled cardboard.” I don’t usually buy frozen prepared food, but these two items from my local Indian supermarkets reeled me in. The Kati sandwiches (card going to Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada) seemed like an improvement on Hot Pockets (a low bar; Hot Pockets are nasty), and they were. As for the other package (going to South Elgin, Illinois), I really like good sambhar. This was not really good sambhar. Better stick with home or restaurant-made. THEY MAKE FOR NICE POSTCARDS, THOUGH!

Let’s start with a great pair of cards I actually got to choose, thanks to Postcrossing Forum offer tags. This Peanuts postcard, with Patty scratching Snoopy’s chin, came from Japan, and the sender wrote, “I hope you will enjoy this card!” Well, yes… I did ask for it…

The sender in Hong Kong tells me about her local Disneyland:

“(It’s) the smallest one in the world, but it’s still popular, especially with Chinese tourists. Every day the park is crowded with tourists. 😦 and I am not interested in it.”

Ha, when I spent a mere 3 nights in HK a few years back (not nearly enough time to properly see the city), I tried like crazy to avoid Disneyland–but everywhere I turned, there was another image or large advertising display for the place. I finally gave in, & made a whirlwind early-morning trip, before meeting a friend for a dim sum lunch. Fortunately, my mid-week, early-morning trip yielded a very uncrowded park, with no memorable waits for any of the rides I chose. I had a great time!

Speaking of tourist zones, look at this cool 3-D card my pen pal in Tokyo, Japan sent to me when she visited Tokyo Tower! The fact that they had a special mailbox & postmark tells me that Japan is very much more of a postcard-writing-and-treasuring culture than is the U.S. Now I did, on a recent road trip, see a general store in a little community that had its own postcards, which it would mail for you for free, should you fill one out to someone & drop it in their basket. I didn’t take advantage of the offer, as I don’t carry an address book on me. Guess I could have looked up addresses on my phone email app–but I don’t know how many Gs I was getting in that remote area!

The soup comes via a Postcrossing Forum food tag from a sender in Yokohama, Japan, who tells me about the photo on her card:

“This picture of Japanese local cuisine ‘Sanpei-jiru.’ It’s Japanese sake less soup with chopped salmon and vegetables. It’s very good.”

A flying whale from Albany, New York, thanks for a Postcrossing Forum “marine life & sea creature” tag. I see I made a note on the card quoting a line from this Postcrosser’s profile: “I love words.” Now, why did I want to remember that? Oh, I see now: the card was mostly blank space on the back, with the only message being “hope you like this card! I thought it was pretty cool. :)”

So, that happened.

The rug-looking card seems to be a piece of cardboard covered in gift wrap. I’d have guessed contact paper, but this thing arrived in my mailbox flapping apart, attached only at one end. This has been a bit of a theme recently. This one came to me from Blitar, Indonesia, thanks to Postcrossing. The sender tells me I am her first match–she just joined the night before! She also wrote:

“I am 23 years old, living in a small city in East Java province, called Blitar. I love reading too! My favourite is about self development, business/marketing and also recipe book because I’m a chef… I am a food consultant here, my clients are spread in Palembang, Jakarta, Surabaya, etc… so I live nomaden sometimes… Hahaha. I love traveling too! My fave Asia destinations are Thailand and Hong Kong! The food is superb! I hope someday I can go to USA!!! That’s my dream destination.”

Finally, there’s the St. Petersburg card, another Postcrossing draw, this time from a 16-year-old girl in Checkhov, Russia, who wrote that she’d just returned from Camp Artek, where she was in the sea squad, and had a great time learning knots, semaphore, and much more.

Let’s start with Good Ol’ Snoopy Brown. I’ve mentioned many times in this space the lack of Snoopy/Peanuts cards here in the U.S. Despite being the birthplace of the comic strip, and although Peanuts greeting cards seem to be sold absolutely everywhere (even in supermarkets), the postcards are just not found unless you go to the source: the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa.

That being the case, I was thrilled to find a book of 1970’s-era Snoopy postcards on sale online!

Several have already been dispatched, including to Peanuts-loving pen-pals of mine in Hawaii, Tokyo, & England (I know I didn’t write that trio out as an equal set, yes). Those cards (and one to Taoyuan, Taiwan, for a Postcrossing Forum tag) went out as postcards should, with a note & a stamp on the back, & dropped into a mailbox. The next one here went out to a Postcrossing Forum regular in Finland who says that she gives Snoopy postcards to a friend, so she’d like hers in an envelope. Okay, fine–I made an envelope:

She also likes to collect stamps, so since I was already throwing stuff into an envelope, I added some stamps from my incoming mail.

The foggy view of Golden Gate Bridge was chosen by someone in Berlin, Germany, in a Postcrossing Forum “show the card you offer” tag. I’m glad I had something she liked.

To Berlin & St. Petersburg

Okay, let’s get into the Russia hack scandal story I’ve just made up (or unearthed inadvertently, who knows). I have fallen way behind on “official” cards traveling out via Postcrossing Forum & Postcard United: between the two sites, I had only 1 card traveling (I think I can have around 30 at this point if I chose to). Yes, I’m sending a lot of cards out, but it’s mainly via Postcrossing Forum, which offers so many different options that I’ve just found it the more fun way to go. The problem I have with the main focus of the two sites is that Postcrossing Forum seems to send me constantly to just the same 3-4 countries, and Postcard United’s algorithm is so rough that there are repeat encounters with the same people, and I’m being paired within my own country.

Anyhow, I decided to send some cards out again via the two sites, so started asking to be assigned addresses:

Click 1–Postcrossing: Saint Petersburg, RUSSIA. Of course. Decided to try my luck next at the other site.

Click 2–Postcard United: Moscow, RUSSIA. Why, I oughta…

Click 3–Postcard United: Krasnodar, RUSSIA. What?!? I claim shenanigans. I’m moving back to the other site.

Click 4–Postcrossing: Alkmaar, Netherlands. Fine. I then quit while I was ahead. We’ll see when I click on those “send a postcard” buttons again. This is supposed to be relaxing.

A sweetened pickle to the Netherlands, and the rest to Russia.

Moving on from the Eastern European drama… the pair of cards pictured next went off to China, in Postcrossing Forum tags. The aerial view of Hearst Castle (another card I replenished during my recent postcard-gathering road trip) is headed toward a food safety major in Beijing, who expressed his wishes for anything local to the sender: “local buildings…anything local is welcome!” If by local, he meant anything in the same state, this place 3 hours or so away from me is local!

The pancakes, which I received recently from a Postcard Uniter, go to Heifei, Anhui, China, in a food postcard trade. The recipient is a chemistry student who says he loves travel, and receiving food postcards.

Finally, this multi-zoned California map card (part of my recent haul) went off to Hong Kong, to someone hoping for map cards. I told her that within just a couple of months, I will have traveled to every segment on the left sided of the card within this calendar year. I do love coastal trips!

Now a look at stamps, stickers, washi tape, & stuff–do you have any favorites down here? Behold the new USPS stamp release, Delicioso, which “celebrates the influence of Central and South American, Mexican, and Caribbean foods and flavors on American cuisine.” And I always love the shorebird & sea shell postcard stamp sets.

Two of my favorites would be at the bottom center of this scan, because I love Pig-Pen & Franklin. Of course, the 2nd one in on the row above that is great, too. And the 3rd & 4th ones in the row above that. And all the rest of them, as well!

Unless you are viewing this on a phone, I think it’s safe to say each of these little cards are smaller than they appear on your screen. My friend tells me what they are:

“HANAFUDA. It’s one of cards game in Japan. Honestly, I have never played it. Moreover, I’m not sure how to play.”

This is most of the cards, but not all of them; I only laid them out until my scanner glass was full. I took a couple of shots of the box, too:

Aren’t they beautiful? Here’s what I’d like to do: FRAME THEM. I’d take them to a framing service, but every time I do that, it costs an awful lot of money. Do you have any framing tips for these? I’ve only scratched the surface of online search results, as I write this.

My friend’s note was written on this postcard…

And she bought the gift at Snoopy Town–something we just don’t have here in the U.S.

Her packages always look so nice:

Cool, huh? Remember, if you have hanafuda-framing tips, I can’t wait to know about them!

Some incomings this time via Postcrossing, swap-bot, & a post pal–let’s start with the post pal, who is in Tokyo, Japan, and created this cool envelope.

Inside, she wrote to me on two postcards.

She wrote a little bit about the style of art, & her feelings on it:

“Do you have interest in ukiyo-e? When I went to book store a few days ago, I found a postcards booklet of Hokusai Katsushika. Actually, I didn’t watch them very much. I thought ukiyo-e was very old, these are NOT cute. Moreover I don’t like human or mountains very much. I found flowers, bird and some interesting art in this book.”

She put both of those cards, and a teabag (“I’m currently drinking it everyday”) in the envelope–here’s the tea package, & the back side of the envelope.

The Where’s Waldo card came to me from somewhere around Birmingham, Alabama, thanks to a swap-bot trade. the sender shared a Groucho Marx quote: “I intend to live forever, or die trying!” I appreciate a postcard-sized Where’s Waldo scene: I was actually able to find him!

Oof–then we have the peacock feathers. No, no–it’s a nice enough card (it came to me from Hereford, England, via Postcrossing), but have a look at the back, please.

Wacky. And not in a fun way, at least not for me.

Needless to say, I didn’t understand a word of it. I know that a fellow blogger I follow here on WordPress also received a card from this user, but I don’t remember whom, I’m sorry. I tried finding out more about this user, and I gather it’s some retired guy. I don’t know what he feels he is getting out of the service, but I have to assume it’s all on the receiving end. Okay, what’s next? Is this the old Microsoft Clippy?

The card came to me from Germany via Postcrossing, and the sender tells me she works in a big financial firm during the day, and outside of that she’s a honey professional!

“Beekeeping is family tradition for more than 100 years and I’m proud to be a part of it. In 2016 we got a price for the good quality of our honey.”

Something less tasteful up next: Star Wars: The Phantom Menace! I got that from the Orlando, Florida area, thanks to a Postcrossing Forum movie tag. The sender writes:

“Despite this being generally a pretty terrible movie in my opinion it’s actually got my favorite Star Wars character in it–Qui-Gon Jinn. I really love him and wish he hadn’t died.”

Sorry if I just gave out a spoiler there, but honestly: if you haven’t seen the film: no need.

I love this postcard of Astro Boy (AKA Mighty Atom) & friends which came to me from a sender in Tokyo, Japan, thanks to a Postcrossing Forum trade in which the person tagging looks at the recipients favorite cards, and sends one they think would be appreciated. I do appreciate it, and I love the Doraemon stickers on the back, too! Scroll to the bottom of the post to see those. This card’s sender tells me:

“I have a 3-year-old son and a newborn daughter. I work as a software engineer. I sent you this card of ATOM!! Wishing you peace and health from Japan.”

I love, love, love that Astro postcard.

Then comes the Japanese food–NOT sent to me from Japan. It’s from Riverside, California, in another Postcrossing Forum “see my favorites” tag, and the sender writes:

“I hope that you are having an especially lovely day today. This card gives me a serious sushi craving. I love a good rainbow roll. Surprisingly, there are some great sushi places here in the desert.”

This Snoopy nengajō is awesome. It’s another card from Tokyo, in a Postcrossing Forum Peanuts tag, bringing me “best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year.” Wonderful Doraemon stamp on the back, too! Nengajō: why, why, why is this not a thing here in the U.S.? No new years greetings, and not much of an emphasis on the Lunar New Year… which reminds me of an NPR interview I heard this weekend with 97-year-old Chinese cuisine icon Cecilia Chang:

(NPR’S NEDA) ULABY: But as much as Chiang loves the Lunar New Year, she misses being in countries where everyone is celebrating it.

CHIANG: Here is really no fun.

Y U P !

Then we have–donuts?–from Friedberg, Germany. Sounds appropriate! This comes my way thanks to Postcard United. The sender tells me:

“I live here with my 74 year old mother and I take care of her. I wish you all the best.”

More food, thanks to a swap-bot trade of recycled cardboard. It came to me from Greece, where the sender wrote:

“Bye Bye 2016! This is my last postcard for 2016 and that’s good. Besides the famous people who died, I lost family & friends. It’s been a lousy year for death. On the other hand, we made a profit during ‘the season,’ we aren’t hungry and going further into debt.”

So there’s that.

COFFEE TIME! That came to me from Virginiain a swap-bot trade, and it got me wondering as to whether Chase & Sanborn Coffee still exists, so I looked it up–and it does! It is now owned by the same Italian company that also bought up Chock full o’Nuts, and the company website taught some stuff about that brand:

“Chock full o’Nuts coffee houses are very widespread, especially in the Northeast of the United States. They serve top quality, 100% Arabica coffee, as well as the well-known date nut bread and a wide range of refreshing drinks.”

I HAD NO IDEA.

Finally now, a card from another WordPresser! Melissa in Canadasent me a very Canadian card, indeed: flag on the front, hockey player stamps on the back! You can see them, plus Doraemon, and all the stamps, stickers & postmarks below.

Happy New Year! Here’s a post that’s been sitting in my draft folder for a few weeks, while I waited for the cards to reach their destinations (to avoid spoilers for the two people who happen to read this blog). I think it’s safe now…

I like this handful of cards. Three of them are going out in an interesting swap-bot trade the organizer named “postcard roulette.” We were assigned one person as a recipient–and then we were to mail a 2nd card to another, unassigned, partner from the trade roster. As I said, I mailed out 3 cards–one to my assigned partner, one to another participant–and one to the organizer, as a thank-you for hosting the trade.

My assigned recipient is in Geldrop, Netherlands, and she is a Disney fan, so she gets the Aladdin card.

The swap host lives in San Francisco, California, and enjoys landscape and randomness (my interpretation), and that tiger card fits in both categories, I’d say.

The third card actually went out to a fellow WordPresser! I was reading the profile of a swapper in Gaven, Queensland, Australia, to help me choose a card she might like (she likes wildlife, so I chose the elephant seals at Piedras Blancas in San Luis Obispo County)–and she mentioned her blog–Under a Canopy of Stars–which I follow! Had to send a card & say hi. Hi!

The remaining two cards to regular postcard pals of mine: The World War I Flying Ace went off to Kalaheo, Hawaii, and Pig-Pen (who would have made an awesome President) was bound for Tokyo, Japan.